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June 7, 2009
A Day At Camp
After conducting a lot of research in the last week and a half, I
finally feel comfortable taking a break and have decided to spend the
day at Ilkeliani. After sleeping in, I awoke to the sounds of birds
and the rustling of the wind. I opened my tent to discover a pair of
banded mongoose standing on the doormat. Both they and I seemed
unsure of what to do next. I wanted to grab my camera, but knew they
weren’t going to wait around for that. So I just watched as they tip-
toed off to the river’s edge.
After breakfast, I went to get
something from my car, only to find a gorgeous green and yellow
sunbird admiring himself in the side mirror. He fluttered back into a
tree and I watched him get some nectar out of the nearby flowers.
Later in the afternoon, I rested on the couch outside my tent,
stretched out and enjoying the breeze. Just as I was starting to get
engrossed in a good book, I looked up to find some swallows
constructing a nest in the bars holding up the canvas above the tent.
The bird looked to be building up some spit, so that he could moisten
the mud nest that it was working on. Otherwise I have just been happy
to enjoy the blue sky and rushing water as I work on some data entry.
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June 3, 2009
Music of the Night
 At night everything changes in the Mara. The nocturnal animals awaken. In the dining hall, a genet cat might sneak in to look for scraps. The temperature drops, often the rains come, and the world becomes dark. With almost no ambient light, the stars and moon are always spectacular. As one shifts from the visual world to the auditory, you become aware of all the sounds of the Mara as well.
Not a night has gone by at Ilkeliani, where I haven’t heard the cries of the hyena. More recently I have been able to hear the deep, rib-cage shaking roar of the lions. I always find my skin prickles as I imagine these massive cats wandering the plains and taking down the huge buffaloes. Sometimes I even hear the unusual call of the hippo, moving through Talek river right next to camp. Hippo’s skin is very sensitive to the sun, so they are often sequestered to the water during the day. It is only at night that they are able to feed tromping through the riverside vegetation for their evening meal of grass. |
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June 1, 2009
At first it looked like a huge rock with two humps and a smooth muddy surface. As we approached, we could see more definition and I knew this was no rock. It was a huge black rhino! Tattered ears and oxpeckers sitting along its back, the rhino seemed rather uneasy. It flicked its head from side to side trying to dislodge the birds that will usually just feed on insects living on large mammals, but will occasionally pick at sore spots as well. Finally the rhino lay down, lifting its huge head up as its rear came down. I got one glimpse of its spectacular face and thin lip, the distinguishing feature of the black rhino. As it lay in the tall grass, all that could be seen was the pointy tip of its horn, which lifted up and down occasionally, like some huge dancing snake.
Not long after seeing the rhino, I found myself actually looking at a snake – a big snake in fact. Sitting right in the middle of the road was a six-foot cobra. It was peacefully sunning and had its hood flared, giving it a look as if it might strike at any moment. It was in fact totally unconcerned with our presence. We stopped the car and waited. Slowly the black snake seemed to notice that it was in the way and decided to retract its hood (making it much less threatening
looking) and slithered away
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